US-China Trade Deficit Grows to Record $270bn

The gap between US imports from China and what it sold to the country rose to $273.1bn (£170bn) last year, the largest trade imbalance the US has ever recorded with a single country. While US exports to China grew by a third last year to an all-time high of $91.9bn, imports worth $364.9bn travelled in the other direction, an increase of 23.1%.

Some US politicians blame Beijing for the size of the trade gap between the nations, claiming it is unfairly keeping the yuan’s value too low. On Thursday a bipartisan group in Congress proposed a bill that would allow the US to impose emergency tariffs against China if its currency was found to be undervalued.

China, though, has long denied that it is responsible for American exports lagging so far behind its imports.